In modem society, it is becoming increasingly common to purchase a brewed cup of coffee from a coffee shop, donut shop, restaurant, or the like, as opposed to brewing coffee at home. It is also known to brew hot tea or soup in a similar manner, using an automatic brewing apparatus. In order to attract and maintain business, it is extremely important to such establishments that they brew very high quality coffee consistently--in other words, time after time. It is also important to have available several blends of coffee brewed and ready to be purchased.
Further, it is necessary that coffee establishments be able to serve a large amount of coffee in a relatively short period of time, such as during peak consumption periods, and also randomly at other times. It is, therefore, desirable to be able to brew a relatively large amount of coffee, perhaps as much as sixty to eighty cups at once, and have this amount of coffee remain at a high level of quality for as long as possible. It is also desirable to do so with a minimum amount of equipment, so as to reduce capital costs, and so on.
When brewing coffee, the control of water, especially in terms of amount of water delivered to the coffee grounds, and the rate at which the water is delivered, is of paramount importance. In smaller coffee brewers, such as those that brew about ten to twelve cups into a glass carafe, good quality coffee may be brewed quite readily by merely passing a known amount of water through a known amount of coffee grounds, at a known rate.
However, it has been found that coffee brewed by small capacity brewers into glass coffee carafes tends to maintain an acceptable drinking quality, at least by present day high standards, for only about one-half hour, as the heating elements that keep the coffee hot tend to cause the coffee to degrade quickly. Also, brewing coffee in this manner, in small batches, is labor intensive and may be undesirably expensive to a coffee shop, donut shop, restaurant, and the like. It may therefore be desirable to have large amounts of coffee brewed at one time, which coffee remains fresh for as long as possible. It is also desirable to brew more than one blend of coffee so that various brews of coffee are available to a customer at any one time. In order to do this using a single brewing apparatus, a brewing system is used where large insulated containers receive a large amount of brewed coffee while in place in the brewing apparatus, and are then removed to a remote location for dispensing of the coffee. The insulated containers may be airpots or other insulated carafes of the sort noted in WARNE U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,275, issued Jan. 6, 1998. In many instances, the insulated containers are so-called satellite containers, of the sort described in ROBERTS U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,571, issued Nov. 11, 1986. The satellite containers generally include a low wattage heating element to help maintain the temperature of the coffee in the container at a desired dispensing and drinking temperature. The flavour degradation which occurs in glass carafes or decanters does not occur in insulated satellite containers.
Accordingly, it is quite desirable for coffee shops, donut shops, restaurants, and the like, to use larger capacity brewers. However, it has been found that in larger capacity brewers, such as those that brew perhaps sixty to eighty cups at once and which, accordingly, use a large amount of coffee grounds at once, that it is difficult to obtain a high quality of brewed coffee at various volumes for the following reasons:
Hot water must remain in contact with the coffee grounds long enough to extract the flavor from the coffee grounds. However, if the water remains in contact with the coffee grounds too long as it passes through, the water will extract a larger amount of coffee flavor than is necessary; and it will also tend to start leeching out acids, oils, and other undesirable constituents, which make the taste of the coffee unacceptable. This is due to the fact that all of the water passing through the coffee grounds passes through a greater amount of coffee grounds. In order to solve this problem, some prior art coffee brewing systems that brew large amounts of coffee, such as those used in coffee shops, donut shops, restaurants, and the like, use a by-pass outlet having a selectively operable valve mounted thereon. Such a system is also described in ROBERTS U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,571. The by-pass outlet is disposed above the edge of the brew chamber of the coffee brewer such that water emanating therefrom is received into a special by-pass channel in the brew chamber, which by-pass channel permits the water to flow down the outer structure inside the brew chamber without passing through the coffee grounds therein, and into a container below. The flow of water through the by-pass valves is adjustable to meet brewing requirements.
There are a number of problems associated with this particular by-pass arrangement, as described. For example, a special brew chamber structure is required, which adds to the cost of manufacture.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hot water by-pass arrangement wherein the water emanating therefrom does not contact the brew chamber of the coffee brewer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for brewing a beverage wherein the correct temperature water is delivered to both a brew water outlet and a by-pass water outlet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for brewing a beverage, wherein the brewed beverage is received into a removable and replaceable container, so as to permit continuous brewing, irrespective of consumption.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for brewing a high quality brewed beverage that is brewed in various large volumes.
It is yet another object of the present invention provide an apparatus for brewing a first beverage and a second beverage concurrently.
Finally, a principal purpose of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for brewing a beverage, as described above, wherein the control of the brewing process and the bypass system, and thus the quality of the brewed product, is under the control of a microprocessor.